Tuesday 16 August 2016 14.10 EDT
First published on Tuesday 16 August 2016 04.32 EDT

Calls to reform the rail industry have intensified after news that fares would rise by 1.9% next year, prompting calls from Labour to take services into public ownership and a warning from the passenger watchdog that millions of commuters are not getting value for money.

In a summer marked by disruption on Southern, one of Britain’s busiest rail franchises, and simmering industrial disputes around the railway, trade unions and campaigners held protests highlighting the growth in fares over the last decade. MPs across parties demanded fare freezes for passengers on the Southern route, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn joined a demonstration outside London Bridge station, one of the most disrupted rail hubs for commuters on the Southern network.

Corbyn said a Labour government would “rebuild and transform” the UK’s transport network and insisted public ownership of the railways could raise enough money to cut rail fares by as much as 10%.

Regulated rail fares, which include season tickets and off-peak InterCity tickets, will rise by 1.9% from January, in line with July’s RPI inflation figure published on Tuesday. Last year regulated fares rose by 1%. Regulated fares include season tickets and off-peak InterCity tickets, and are capped by the government.

The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said: “Rail passengers are paying more and getting even less. Fares go up while trains remain overcrowded, stations are unstaffed, and rail companies cut the guards who ensure journeys run smoothly and safely. Enough is enough. It’s time for rail services to be publicly owned, saving money for passengers and taxpayers alike.”

Andy McDonald, the shadow transport secretary, said: “Passengers are told that higher fares are necessary to fund investment, but vital projects have been delayed by years and essential maintenance works have been put on hold. Money that could be used to keep fares down or reinvested to improve our services is instead subsidising the profits of private companies and other nation’s railway systems – it’s a scandal.”

But the rail minister, Paul Maynard, said: “Wages are growing faster than train ticket prices thanks to action by the government.”

He added: “Passengers want more reliable journeys in comfort and with better facilities. That is why we are investing record amounts in our railways delivering the biggest rail modernisation programme for over a century, providing more seats, more services, Wi-Fi and air-conditioning.”

Paul Plummer, chief executive at the Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators and Network Rail, said: “Nobody wants to pay more to travel to work and at the moment in some areas people aren’t getting the service they are paying for, and we know how frustrating that is. But increases to season tickets are set by government. For every pound paid in fares, 97p goes back into running and improving services and it’s our job to make sure that money is spent well.

“We need to sustain investment to build a modern railway, and money from fares helps us to do this, which is crucial with rail now more important to our nation’s prosperity than at any time since the Victorian era.”

But Anthony Smith, chief executive of the independent watchdog Transport Focus, said many passengers were not satisfied they were receiving value for their fares, particularly in London and the south east: “Just 23% of peak-time passengers in London and the south east thought their ticket was value for money. Passengers are playing their part by pouring over £9bn into the industry each year: the industry must now deliver on its promises of much more consistent, better performance.”

Rail campaigners said the use of RPI inflation to set fares was punishing passengers unduly, when the lower CPI measure is used to benchmark public sector pay and benefits.

Bruce Williamson from the independent campaign group Railfuture said: “Fares continue to outstrip real world price rises. Today’s CPI inflation figure is only 0.6%, but next January’s fares will go up by 1.9% because the government insists on using the higher RPI figure. It seems that the government is continuing to price people off the railways, reducing revenue and damaging economic growth. Meanwhile, motorists continue to enjoy a freeze on fuel duty.”

Data compiled by the group showed that rail fares would be almost 10% lower had the price rises imposed by the government since 2005 been based on CPI rather than RPI, saving many commuters hundreds of pounds a year.

At King’s Cross, passengers voiced concern at news of the increase. Sue Ellis, a civil servant, 52, said her company had paid for her travel on Tuesday, but added: “If I was paying I wouldn’t think it was value for money, particularly because some trains are overcrowded; reservations don’t always work properly especially on long journeys down to London. It’s disproportionate to make transport expensive for so many people who are suffering from no pay rises. It puts travel out of reach for many people. Whether we nationalise the rail companies or not, the bottom line is something needs to change.”

Dennis Palmer, 57, who works for a national marketing and media company, said he did not think nationalisation of rail would work, adding: “If you have to commute to work it’s a problem. We should solve the housing crisis so it doesn’t cost people as much to live near to where they work. You could afford rail fare increases if you didn’t have to pay thousands of pounds to rent in London. We’re pricing people out of the city, the people we want to do the jobs we need.”

But Christoph Galle, 33, an academic from Germany, who had booked a ticket to Cambridge, said: “In comparison to prices in Germany it’s quite low. Rail fares shouldn’t rise every year though. It’s unfair that people have to pay more without getting paid more. The prices in Germany are on a high level but the last time they rose was three years ago.”

Flexible ticketing could save some part-time workers hundreds of pounds a year and encourage more people to take the train. Despite the government having committed to the principle several years ago, around 8.5 million people who work part-time or regularly work from home cannot mitigate the cost of their commute in the way that full-time workers can.

James MacColl, of the Campaign for Better Transport, said: “The current season ticket system still fails to reflect our modern workforce and discriminates against women who make up three-quarters of part-time workers, years after the government committed to roll-out flexible ticketing nationally.”

While one franchise, C2C, introduced potential savings for flexible workers this year through a carnet-style scheme on its smartcard, the Department for Transport has not yet mandated train companies to develop part-time tickets.

MacColl added: “It is not good enough for the government to leave it up to franchisees to develop inadequate compromise offers which don’t provide fair discounts.”

Season tickets can mean full-time workers pay around half to two-thirds of cumulative single fares over a year. Campaigners say an equivalent three or four-day a week season ticket would allow part-time, often lower-paid commuters to also save hundreds of pounds a year. The government announced in September 2013 a programme to introduce smart ticketing across south-east England including piloting part-time season tickets on a commuter route, but it has now abandoned the scheme.